The Reciprocity Requirement
by prepare4trouble
Summary: When Penny gets sick, Sheldon feels obligated to overcome his germaphobia to help her out. But it's purely for selfish reasons, honestly. At least, that's what he's convinced himself. Sheldon/Penny friendship.


A/N - this is my first Big Bang Theory fic, I'm brand new to the fandom. I've just watched two seasons in nine days, so it's kinda stuck in my head. Also, the first time I went online looking for fic and found Sheldon/Penny I was baffled. For about five seconds. Then I realized that it makes total sense, in a weird kind of way. Anyway, fic. Feedback would be very appreciated!

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The Reciprocity Requirement

_Knock knocks knock._ "Penny!"

_Knock knock knock._ "Penny!"

_Knock knock knock._ "Penny!"

Penny groaned as she pulled herself into a sitting position on the couch. "Come in, Sheldon," she croaked as she reached for the roll of toilet paper on the floor next to her.

The door opened slowly, revealing Sheldon, an uncharacteristically nervous expression on his face. He wrapped one hand tightly around the door frame as though tethering himself in place to prevent him from bolting. In the other hand, he clutched a brown paper bag. This was the hand that he thrust forwards into the room. As he did, he turned his head away, compensating for introducing his hand into the germ infested environment by moving his mouth and nose out of harm's way. "I brought you some soup."

"Oh," Penny blew her nose on a piece of the toilet paper and dropped it on the floor, on top of what Sheldon noticed with distaste, was a large pile of the same.

Wrapping her blanket tightly around her shoulders, Penny got to her feet and made her slow, shivering way across the room to the door.

As she approached, Sheldon flinched back slightly and tightened his grip on the door frame. His head turned further away, a futile subconscious defense against the onslaught of germs.

"Thanks, sweetie, that was nice of you. You didn't have to do that." She took the bag gratefully.

Sheldon shook his head. "While I agree that there is no law or biological imperative that compelled me to take this action, I have come to realize that friendships demand a certain level of reciprocity in order to function.

Penny frowned, "Sheldon, I don't know if I could have followed that with a clear head, but the way I feel right now there's no chance. If you're going to talk to me, you'll need to dial down the walking thesaurus act."

"You took care of me when I was sick," he reminded her, "therefore, I should return the favor by doing the same for you." He turned his head perhaps a quarter of an inch back towards her, "Is there anything else you need? Tylenol? Anti-viral tissues? A hot water bottle?"

Penny shook her head.

"Would you like to borrow my VapoRub? I'm afraid I would have to draw the line at actually applying it for you, but you have already demonstrated your competence to do it yourself."

Penny sat back on the couch and opened the paper bag. "I'm fine, Sheldon. This is plenty. Thank you."

"I could sing for you,"

Penny paused, her and half way through extracting the soup from the bag and stared at him for a full thirty seconds. Sheldon's gaze dropped to the ground and drifted around the room, taking in the extra mess that had accumulated over the past few days.

Unable to come up with an adequate response, Penny chose to ignore the suggestion, "Sheldon, aren't you worried that if you stay here you'll get sick?"

"Yes," he detached his hand from the door a took a step forward. "Of course that is a concern, but it is likely that I've already been infected during the time I have spent here already. In fact, the safest course of action would probably be for me to stay here until we both recover."

"You're kidding, right?"

"Of course not. Unfortunately for the uninfected, your apartment lacks several things that I need for my survival. My toothbrush, for example. My pajamas. My room." He closed the door behind him and sat down in his chosen spot. "Fortunately for me, we have established this new aspect to our social interaction,"

Penny's eyes narrowed, "New aspect?" She opened the soup and sniffed, "Ooh, chicken. My favorite."

"Chicken soup has been used as a folk remedy for generations, however it has been proven recently that in fact it can temporally relieve cold and flu symptoms by speeding up the movement of mucus through the bronchial and nasal passages. That not only relieves congestion, but also reduces the amount of time that the virus in in contact with the nose lining."

"That's fascinating, Sheldon, but what was that about social interaction?"

"This. Bringing soup, offering help. Now that this is an established aspect to our relationship, I was hoping that it could continue."

Penny took a sip of her soup, which was admittedly delicious and very much appreciated, and considered what she was hearing, "You're trying to make me feel obligated to look after you next time you're sick?"

Sheldon guiltily inspected the floor, "Yes. But in my defense, not only is Leonard a laughably pathetic nursemaid, but 78% of the times when his services are required, he is called away by a work or family emergency."

He fished in his pocket and retrieved a pair of latex gloves. He put them on, and carefully picked up the pile of discarded tissues. He dropped them in the trash, removed the gloves without touching the contaminated outer surface, rolling off the second glove so that the first was trapped inside it, and they followed the tissues into the trash. "78%," he repeated, "What are the chances of that?"

The way he looked at her and the expression on his face told Penny that that wasn't a rhetorical question. "I don't know, sweetie."

"Then I will do the math tonight ans let you know in the morning."

Penny smiled and blew her nose again.

"There, see? Faster movement of mucus."

"Yeah, I guess you were right."

"Of course I was right," Sheldon got to his feet again, "Would you like some honey and lemon? It's another folk remedy. The natural antiseptic qualities of the honey do wonders for a sore throat, not to mention it tastes delicious."

Clearly Sheldon was here to stay. Oddly, it didn't seem like such a horrifying prospect as she had imagined. "Sure, that'd be really nice."

She watched as he busied himself in the kitchen, slicing lemon and boiling the kettle. Penny snuggled herself down in her blanket and sipped her soup. Sheldon was right, it was nice to be looked after when you were sick. All things considered, maybe she wouldn't mind so much if Leonard managed to escape again the next time Sheldon got the sniffles.


End file.
